WILL, ROMAN. A Roman will—called Testarnentum, was defined by the jurists of the Imperial period to be " a legal mode of a inan's declaring his intention in due form, to take effect after his death." The power of making a Roman testament only belonged to Roman citizens who were sui juris, a rule which excluded a great number of persona : those who were in the power of another, as sons not emancipated, and daughters ; impuberes ; dumb persona, deaf persons, insane persons, and others; and, as a general rule, all women. The circumstances under which a woman could make a will were peculiar ; and they would require a very particular statement. A male of the age-of fourteen years complete, unless under some special incapacity, could make a valid will. A female, so far as respected age only, acquired this capacity on the completion of her twelfth year.
Originally Roman citizens made their wills at Calata Comitia, which were held twice a year for this purpose. ' It is not said that these wills were made in writing; and it is here assumed that they were made at the Calata Comitia only for the purpose of securing the proper evidence of the testator's intention. If a man died in the interval between two such Comitia without having made his will, lie must have died intestate. But wills could also be made in Prociuctu, that is, by a soldier under arms and in presence of the enemy. Another mode of testamentary disposition was introduced, apparently for the purpose of preventing intestacy. If a man, says Gaius (ii. 102), had neither made his will at the Calata Comitia nor in Procinctu, and was threatened with sudden death, he transferred, by the form of mancipatio, his familia, that is, his patrimonium, to a friend, and told him what to give to each person after his death : this was called the testament= per res et libram, because the transfer was effected by maneipatio. Thus it appears that the testament= per :es et libram was a formal transfer of the property during the lifetime of the owner to a person who undertook to dispose of it as he was directed. As it was a substitute for the testament made at the Calata Comitia, it is a probable inference that it only differed from the testament made at the Comitia in wanting thet publicity. The two old forms of testa
mentary disposition, adds Gaius, fell into disuse, and that per res et libram became the common form. Originally the formal purchaser of the testator's estate (familiar etnptor) occupied the place of the heree at a later time; when Gains wrote, and long before his time, the old form of testamentary disposition was retained as to the familiteetnptor, but a heres was appointed by the will to carry into effect the testator's intention. The formal purchaser was only retained out of regard to ancient custom, and the institution of a heres became necessary to the validity of a will.
The form of testamentary transfer per tea et libram is described by Gaius (ii. 104). Written wills, as already observed, were not stecessary, for neither tnancipation nor the institution of a heres require a writing. But written wills were the common form during the later republican and the imperial period. Willa were written on tablets of wood or wax ; hence the word " cera " (wax) is often used as equiva lent to tabula. A Roman will was required to be in the Latin language until A.D. 439, when it was enacted that wills might be written in Greek. A Roman will in the later periods was sealed and signed by the witnesses. Thd sealing consisted in making a mark with , a ring or something else on the wax, and the names were added. The 'seals and names were on the outside, for, according to the old law, there was no occasion for the witnesses to know the contents of the will. The old practice was for the testator to show the will to the witnesses, and to call on them to witness that what he so presented to them was his will. It was not unusual for a man to make several copies of his will, and to deposit them in some safe keeping. At the opening of the will the witnesses or the greater part, if alive and on the spot, were present, and after acknowledging their signatures the will was opened.